Twelve weeks post treatment - About the same, mouth and throat still sore, still sensitive to heat and spicy. Still have dry mouth, particularly so when sleeping. Started putting in a piece of Trident in my jaw while sleeping, that kept my mouth moist, but didn't help the dry throat.

Hair continues to return on back of neck.

All in all I have nothing to complain about.

Tony

Fourteen weeks - Little change, mouth and throat still sensitive to hot and spicy. Doctor thinks the sensitive spot at surgery site is scar tissue. That it doesn't stretch when eating is what he thinks is causing my eating related discomfort.

I started using a humidifier at night when sleeping, that seems to help with the really dry throat during the night.

I also started using a NeilMed Sinus Rinse bottle, that has really helped with the dry, sticky sinus drainage. And I can breath a lot better.

Bald spot at base of neck is almost completely filled in now.

Weight remains constant.

Since little change is occuring, I will move to a once monthly update.

Tony

Four months - Improvement continues, albeit at a slow pace.

Weight has remained steady at about 190 (42 lb weight loss). It's nice to have a flat belly.

Hair has completely returned on back of neck.

Roughly half my taste has returned. I can taste everything at some level, but many things taste only about half as good as they did pre-treatment. Mouth is still a little sensitive to hot foods or liquids and to spicy food.

Sinus drainage that dries in my throat is the most noticeable remaining side effect. The NeilMed sinus irrigator gets used anytime I feel that crud in my throat; it works great though it took awhile to get used to it. At first it was gross, choking, coughing, spitting, in general it just made a mess. Now I know how much water to squirt each time such that I get the cleansing without all the other.

Nightly use of a humidifier by the bed helps a lot towards preventing the formation of said throat crud.

What I've written here today sounds so much like what I've written the last two or three times. I'm sure it sounds like no improvement is occuring. That's not true, the improvement has just slowed down, which I expect is how it is for many.

Thanks for sharing this Tony, mapping out your last 4 months is very helpful to others. Is yours a typical progression over this period?

Five months - Thanks Ozmojo for your interest. I have no idea if my recovery is what you would call typical. We are all so different in every aspect of this disease; diagnosis, treatment, I'm sure recovery is the same.

At 195 I'm about 5 pounds heavier than a month ago, and all that is due to more food and drink over the last month. I will get that back under control over the next month; as in small, nutritious meals and lots of exercise. I know it wasn't good to lose 42 pounds during treatment and early recovery, but now that it's gone the last thing I want is for it to return.

The throat crud problem of before persists though it has improved. Initially, I was using the sinus irrigator 3-5 times a day for relief; now it's down to once in the morning after a nights sleep and maybe one more use during the day. The volume of throat crud also seems to have decreased though what does stick around is really sticky and hard to hack.

I still use the humidifier most nights when I sleep; it seems to help.

Food taste has pretty much returned. A month ago I reported 50% return; I think it's higher than that now, maybe 80%. I taste everything (sweets, sour, savory) it's just that nothing tastes as good as I remember before treatment. But, it's way better than it was 5 months ago when I could taste basically nothing. My mouth is still sensitive to hot or spicy foods; I have to watch the spices as they can create some real discomfort if ignored.

Lately I've noticed my mouth develops a bad taste once or twice a day. Brushing my teeth helps and will keep it at bay for several hours, but it returns later. Chewing Trident gum (xylitol) helps too.

Everything continues to get better, as other's say, it's just real slow progress.

Tony

Hi Tony. I've just found this. Very helpful to have some data on how the mouth and throat recover.

Thanks Tony. I expected it to take a while after treatment but the recovery is taking longer than I expected. Its good to know there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Glad things are going well!

Six Months - nothing new to report. Food taste comes and goes. I'm talking about quality food taste. Some days food tastes good, other days it tastes rather bland. But, I can taste everything.

One example, I always loved animal crackers (kind of a cookie). Yesterday I bought first bag in several months. They tasted horrible, almost bitter. They never tasted that way before. I'll throw the rest of them away as I shouldn't be eating them anyway.

Some foods I just shouldn't eat. Chicken breast is often kinda dry. Chewing it and trying to swallow it is like swallowing sawdust. It will actually stick in my throat. Without a glass of water available that could result in choking. Now, the dark meat portions, legs and thighs are moist enough they chew and swallow normally.

I eat a bowl of cereal most mornings for brekfast; cheerios and raisin bran with extra raisins, peanuts and a banana. Last two weeks I have a horrible taste in mouth after eating; that wasn't there before. All I'm trying to say is recovery comes and goes, some days and weeks are better than others. I thought all this would be a linear process; everything would just get a little better every day until all symptoms gone. That just isn't the way it happens, at least not for me.

Still have sinus drying in the back of my throat, particularly after sleeping at night. Feels like someone coated the area with Elmer's glue and it dried. Using the sinus irrigator really helps break it up and allows me to hack and spit it out. Some mornings you can see what comes up, yellow-green, you all know what snot looks like. Other days, it's clear.

Weight remains pretty constant; I'm trying not to gain the weight back; love the new slender look.

take care
Tony

You're on track and sound just like me. I remember finding a bag of shelled peanuts in my MIL's backyard about this time of recovery and I love peanuts so I popped one in my mouth and thought I was going to choke until I could run to the front yard and take a swallow of water. DO NOT TRY PEANUTS yet.